That, in essence, is what the FBI said to The Washington Post and The New York Times after it was learned that the law enforcement agency grabbed the telephone records of reporters without first having obtained any authorization to do so.

Being sorry is good, but it's not nearly good enough.

The FBI has got to show that it has taken steps to ensure that such a breach does not happen again. Not to the Post, and not to the Times. And not at other news-gathering organizations. Or against civilians.

A review of bureau procedures by the Justice Department's inspector general found that the telephone records of two New York Times reporters and of a Post reporter and a researcher were obtained without first having been authorized by a grand jury.

All were in Indonesia and working on stories about terrorism in 2004 when their telephone records were compromised.

FBI Director Robert Mueller phoned Post Executive Editor Leonard Downie Jr. and Times Executive Editor Bill Keller on Friday and offered his apologies for the incidents.

We have said many times before in this space that the government needs to be able to track the activities of suspected terrorists - without trampling on the civil liberties of the citizenry or on the fundamental rights afforded by the Constitution.

The folks working for The New York Times and The Washington Post do not, in fact, work for the federal government. While that should go without saying, at least some inside the bureau seemed to have forgotten that simple fact back in 2004. It's good for them to be reminded - and for them to remember.

It became too easy after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, for federal officials and agencies to sidestep the procedures that had been established to maintain our nation's fundamental freedoms.

While they have sometimes been compromised, they remain intact, but only if we work doggedly to protect them at every turn.